Hoi An ( 24th - 26th July)

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Upon arrival into a destination, we’ve been finding ourselves dropped off at seemingly random hotels which then turn out to be a partner hotel of the bus company. Arriving in Hoi An was no different, we were steadily making our way towards the centre of Hoi An when all of a sudden we made a left turn off the main road and after another couple of turns pulled into yet another hotel.

Once off the bus it’s been a case of trying to work out exactly where we are before deciding the best way to our hotel. We had a nice surprise this time as we managed to find helpful person who told us that our hotel was only about 100 yards away.

We arrived at our hotel at about half seven in the morning, way too early for check in so we decided to have breakfast before working out what to do with the rest of the day. The hotel ended up being the nicest hotel we’ve stayed in so far and actually had us checked in by nine am, it only opened about 3 months ago so it was all shiny and new and even had a nice little pool. We had balcony and a bath and shower with a shower curtain (luxury I tell you!). The hotel was about a 15 minute walk into the town centre, but the hotel had free bike hire that we took advantage of.

Hoi An itself is a relatively small town on the banks of the Perfume River on the coast about halfway up Vietnam. Its “Old Town” is a world heritage site having been a trading port for the better part of 300 years its got a mix of Chinese, Japanese and French architecture. It’s a really pretty place and the pace of life is a lot more relaxed than the hustle and bustle of other places we’ve been in Vietnam so far. The main old town only allows bikes and pedestrians, so it’s much easier to avoid being flattened by cars!

Hoi An is also known for its hundreds and hundreds of tailors and dressmakers shops. You can get pretty much anything made in Hoi An and most of it can be ready inside 24 hours. I had 2 shirts made and Rachel two tops (finally some weather approprite clothing!)for the princely sum of about ₤12 an item. The quality is really pretty good too. Most lads were having suits made and a few women were getting dresses, but we’ve still got 5 or so months left and who knows what shape we will be in when we return! Neither of us wanted to get back to stuff that won’t fit.

The food we had in Hoi An was easily amongst the best we’ve had since coming to South East Asia and its dirt cheap too, The best kind of combination. Sea food featured heavily.

The only real trip to do was the heritge tour, which involved a choice of old houses and museums in the city. To be frank, thís was rubbish, but it only cost about 3 pounds each, so can’t complain! The best time was spent just wondering around the confusing narow streets and bargain hunting!

On a night time the far side of the river housed a chinese lantern market and ứa all lit up beautifully. People also floated lanterns down the river, which was beautiful!

Hoi An is probably my favourite place we’ve been so far, though 2 nights was probably enough we’d have started to get a bit bored if we’d stayed longer. Onward to Hue!

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Comments

[leslie]

such a wonderful experience
Guys what a brilliant blog ! can you maybe put another link on your book page to remind folk its there . ididnt realise how much you had written till today . you both look well !! nice tan no red noses !! james hairs looking cool i dare you not to cut it till you come home !! miss you xxxx james lewis hamilton won grand prix ! did you mange to download any travel bookes onto your kindle ? love mum

[Julie]

Keep the photos coming!!
Following you both and Sam and Jen was there same time I think